Bill Gross's Bond Fund Assets Fall to Lowest Since November 2014

(Bloomberg) -- Investors pulled money from Bill Gross’s bond fund for the fifth consecutive month in July, reducing assets to the lowest since November 2014, less than two months after he took over the go-anywhere pool.

The Janus Henderson Global Unconstrained Bond Fund suffered more than $200 million in redemptions last month, according to Bloomberg estimates. That helped lower the fund’s assets to $1.25 billion compared with February’s all-time high of $2.24 billion.

Gross has piled up year-to-date losses of 7 percent, one of the toughest slumps in a storied career that dates to 1971, when he co-founded Pacific Investment Management Co. The decline was attributed in part to a misplaced bet that rates on U.S. Treasuries and German bunds would converge, a position the fund later scaled back.

Gross, 74, took over the unconstrained fund in October 2014 after being ousted from Pimco, where he managed the world’s onetime largest mutual fund, Pimco Total Return.

Janus Henderson spokeswoman Erin Passan and Gross didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment.

Estimates for the Janus fund flows are based on the change in assets over the month that isn’t accounted for by performance, fees or reinvested dividends. The numbers may vary from actual figures and from estimates compiled by other data providers.

To contact the reporter on this story: John Gittelsohn in Los Angeles at johngitt@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Margaret Collins at mcollins45@bloomberg.net, Vincent Bielski, Melissa Karsh

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